For Your Safety
guidelines that limit RF
exposure. The FCC relies on
the FDA and other health
agencies for safety questions
about wireless phones.
The FCC also regulates the
base stations that the wireless
phone networks rely upon.
While these base stations
operate at higher power than
do the wireless phones
themselves, the RF exposures
that people get from these
base stations are typically
thousands of times lower
than those they can get from
wireless phones. Base stations
are thus not the subject of
the safety questions
discussed in this document.
3. What kinds of phones are
the subject of this
update?
The term 'wireless phone'
refers here to handheld
96
wireless phones with built-in
antennas, often called 'cell' ,
'mobile' , or 'PCS' phones.
These types of wireless
phones can expose the user
to measurable radiofrequency
energy (RF) because of the
short distance between the
phone and the user's head.
These RF exposures are
limited by FCC safety
guidelines that were
developed with the advice of
the FDA and other federal
health and safety agencies.
When the phone is located at
greater distances from the
user, the exposure to RF is
drastically lower because a
person's RF exposure
decreases rapidly with
increasing distance from the
source. The so-called
'cordless phones,' which have
a base unit connected to the
telephone wiring in a house,